Thus was this place A happy rural seat of various view.
MILTON.
Mabel was in waiting on the beach, and the canoe was soon launched.Pathfinder carried the party out through the surf in the same skillful manner that he had brought it in; and though Mabel's color heightened with excite-ment, and her heart seemed often ready to leap out of her mouth again, they reached the side of the _Scud_ without having received even a drop of spray.
Ontario is like a quick-tempered man, sudden to be an-gered, and as soon appeased.The sea had already fallen;and though the breakers bounded the shore, far as the eye could reach, it was merely in lines of brightness, that ap-peared and vanished like the returning waves produced by a stone which had been dropped into a pool.The cable of the _Scud_ was scarcely seen above the water, and Jasper had already hoisted his sails, in readiness to depart as soon as the expected breeze from the shore should fill the can-vas.
It was just sunset as the cutter's mainsail flapped and its stem began to sever the water.The air was light and southerly, and the head of the vessel was kept looking up along the south shore, it being the intention to get to the eastward again as fast as possible.The night that suc-ceeded was quiet; and the rest of those who slept deep and tranquil.
Some difficulty occurred concerning the command of the vessel, but the matter had been finally settled by an amicable compromise.As the distrust of Jasper was far from being appeased, Cap retained a supervisory power, while the young man was allowed to work the craft, sub-ject, at all times, to the control and interference of the old seaman.To this Jasper consented, in preference to ex-posing Mabel any longer to tbe dangers of their present situation; for, now that the violence of the elements had ceased, he well knew that the _Montcalm_ would be in search of them.He had the discretion, however, not to reveal his apprehensions on this head; for it happened that the very means he deemed the best to escape the enemy were those which would be most likely to awaken new suspi-cions of his honesty in the minds of those who held the power to defeat his intentions.In other words, Jasper believed that the gallant young Frenchman, who com-manded the ship of the enemy, would quit his anchorage under the fort at Niagara, and stand up the lake, as soon as the wind abated, in order to ascertain the fate of the _Scud_, keeping midway between the two shores as the best means of commanding a broad view; and that, on his part, it would be expedient to hug one coast or the other, not only to avoid a meeting, but as affording a chance of pass-ing without detection by blending his sails and spars with objects on the land.He preferred the south because it was the weather shore, and because he thought it was that which the enemy would the least expect him to take, though it necessarily led near his settlements, and in front of one of the strongest posts he held in that part of the world.
Of all this, however, Cap was happily ignorant, and the Sergeant's mind was too much occupied with the details of his military trust to enter into these niceties, which so properly belonged to another profession.No opposition was made, therefore, and before morning Jasper had ap-parently dropped quietly into all his former authority, is-suing his orders freely, and meeting with obedience with-out hesitation or cavil.
The appearance of day brought all on board on deck again; and, as is usual with adventurers on the water, the opening horizon was curiously examined, as objects started out of the obscurity, and the panorama brightened under the growing light.East, west, and north nothing was visi-ble but water glittering in the rising sun; but southward stretched the endless belt of woods that then held Ontario in a setting of forest verdure.Suddenly an opening ap-peared ahead, and then the massive walls of a chateau-look-ing house, with outworks, bastions, blockhouses, and pali-sadoes, frowned on a headland that bordered the outlet of a broad stream.Just as the fort became visible, a little cloud rose over it, and the white ensign of France was seen fluttering from a lofty flagstaff.
Cap gave an ejaculation as he witnessed this ungrateful exhibition, and he cast a quick suspicious glance at his brother-in-law.
The dirty tablecloth hung up to air, as my name is Charles Cap!" he muttered; "and we hugging this d----d shore as if it were our wife and children met on the return from an India v'y'ge! Hark'e, Jasper, are you in search of a cargo of frogs, that you keep so near in to this New France?""I hug the land, sir, in the hope of passing the enemy's ship without being seen, for I think she must be some-where down here to leeward."
"Ay, ay, this sounds well, and I hope it may turn out as you say.I trust there is no under-tow here?""We are on a weather shore, now," said Jasper, smiling;"and I think you will admit, Master Cap, that a strong under-tow makes an easy cable: we owe all our lives to the under-tow of this very lake.""French flummery!" growled Cap, though he did not care to be heard by Jasper."Give me a fair, honest, English-Yankee-American tow, above board, and above water too, if I must have a tow at all, and none of your sneaking drift that is below the surface, where one can neither see nor feel.I daresay, if the truth could be come at, that this late escape of ours was all a contrived affair.""We have now a good opportunity, at least, to recon-noitre the enemy's post at Niagara, brother, for such I take this fort to be," put in the Sergeant."Let us be all eyes in passing, and remember that we are almost in face of the enemy."This advice of the Sergeant needed nothing to enforce it; for the interest and novelty of passing a spot occupied by human beings were of themselves sufficient to attract deep attention in that scene of a vast but deserted nature.
